The Ohio State Buckeyes have a bevy of high-caliber college football players entering the 2026 NFL draft, and the better they are, the more likely they are to end up with struggling NFL teams.
The 2026 NFL draft is scheduled for April 23 through 25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The event, now in its 91st year, gives teams the opportunity bring new talent to their teams at a low cost, since these players are rookies.
In a Tuesday, March 10, piece for SI, Mark Morales-Smith names landing spots for the best college players going into the 2026 NFL draft. For the Ohio State standout Caleb Downs, he sees the player going to the New Orleans Saints, who have the No. 8 selection in the draft.
“There are some concerns with Downs medicals, but the Saints go with the best player available here,” he says in the feature.
Downs has played with both Ohio State and Alabama during his time in college football. He’s certainly considered a day one pick.
According to the player’s official draft profile from the NFL, Downs is a “productive, high-effort safety with three years of starting experience in big games” and he brings “immense juice on each snap.”
“He’s at his best when deployed near the line as a box safety or big nickel back,” his profile adds. “He’ll gamble a little bit as a run defender, but he makes more than enough disruptive plays near the line of scrimmage to make up for it.”
Downs is also “fluent in man or zone over the first two levels and is rarely fooled by play-action or misdirection. While he’s quick to close and strike underneath, there are hints of caution that prevent him from making more plays on the football.”
They warn that he isn’t the “biggest, fastest or most versatile player,” but he has a consistently that makes him a top pick. With all that said, the Saints could do much worse than to draft Downs.
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